Hitherto, known feed mixing systems have employed either volumetric or batch-weighing methods for preparing a mixture of feed ingredients. Conventional volumetric feed processing equipment measures proportioned volumes of the ingredients into a feed processor. However, an undesirable margin of error results in the mixed product when the bulk density of one or more of the ingredients varies from one batch of an ingredient to the next.
In the batch-weighing process, proportioned weights of the individual ingredients are introduced into a mixer or hopper and mixed for a specific period of time. The mixture is then made available for further processing. In addition to the inefficient, intermittent nature of the operation of such systems, ingredients that are desired to be introduced in relatively small proportions are often non-uniformly distributed throughout the resulting product.
Feed mixing systems have been developed which employ one or more computers to control the mixing process. Feed mixtures produced by the known systems are further processed after mixing. Such post-mix processing can include cleaning, roasting, and/or size reduction, as by grinding or milling. It is highly desirable to convey the feed mix to the post-mixing processor at a flow rate that provides optimum efficiency of the processor operation. However, the known feed processing systems, including those with computer-controlled mixing, leave much to be desired in optimizing the efficiency of the post-mix processing.
To further improve the efficiency of a feed mixing and processing system it would be desirable to precisely control refilling of the weighing hoppers, which are used to meter out the various ingredients, so that the mixing process is carried out continuously until a specified weight of feed mix has been processed.
To improve the versatility of a feed mixing and processing system it would further be desirable to provide the ability to create, alter, and store a variety of product recipes which can be easily retrieved for use by the feed mixing and processing system to produce a desired quantity of a selected recipe. In a feed mixing and processing plant, products made according to different recipes are usually packaged at, stored at, and/or shipped from different locations within the plant. It would be desirable to have the control of the feed mixing and processing system integrated with the control of a network of conveyors within the plant in order to deliver the product to a desired destination from the mixing and processing system.